“There is more in the Jungle now than Jungle Law, Baloo.” The old bear said nothing, but he thought many things.[1]
Check out the statistics presented by Chuck Schwartz in a Jackson Hole Star Tribune article about the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) grizzly bear population from this year. [This story is also available here with comments.]
- 25 "known and probable" grizzly deaths have occurred in the GYE this year against a population of ~571. If that mortality rate were applied to the USA, 12 million people would die. That's most of the NYC metro area (more than the New York City, White Plains NY and Wayne, NJ combined).
- 94% of those deaths were caused by humans.
- Of the female deaths older than 2 yrs, (i.e. sexually mature or within a few years of sexual maturity) 44% were caused by hunting "incidents" so they probably were defending either a food source or cubs and got shot in defense.
This seems to be a common theme, as seen in a 10/26 Great Falls Tribune article where a hunter killed a sow with a cub near an elk carcass in self defense. Although obvious, it's worth quoting; "Survival of adult females is particularly critical to the recovery of grizzly bears" says Chris Servheen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (grizzly bear recovery coordinator). Note that when a female with a cub is killed, the cub is often also counted as a mortality due to their almost zero survival rate. Also note that in this NW Montana population, totally separate from the GYE population, 23 grizzlies have been killed this year.
Although tigers, wolves, and mountain lions may have the ability to kill brown bears (especially cubs) their only real enemy is man. And men are such effective killers of bears that even though an area may have everything else that brown bears need, if it is easily accessible to people, brown bears will probably not use it. The exception to this is in areas where bears are totally protected such as National Parks.You can see by the map below, from The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST), that the mother grizzlies of the GYE do not wander beyond federal lands were human activity is limited and habitat/food sources/etc is protected (compared to, the city limits of Jackson, WY, let's say).
It seems from these articles and data, the best way to minimize human/bear encounters is to reduce hunting in grizzly territory. I know that some people would mind this, but I think it comes down to making utilitarian decisions and acting as good stewards of the land. [A heavy dose of Aldo Leopold's land ethic would go a long way in this regard.] Although it's been said that sometimes the bear wins, the bear never really wins because if a bear kills a hunter it is usually trapped and killed too.
We are at a time right now when we have the opportunity to fix something that was broken. We came into the west and we fragmented the habitat through roads and human development and various other things. We have the tools, we have the partnerships in place, and we have the knowledge to fix this.[2]Reducing roads in National Forests would also be a way to limit human reach in wild areas. I also wouldn't be opposed to this alternative, even though it would make it harder for me to access wild areas I'd like to enjoy. That's a price I'd pay if it meant grizzlies would be able to search wider for food in lean years and wander further for mates to increase genetic diversity and co-mingle disparate populations.
In a bit of good news (have to end on a good note, right?) grizzlies have recently been discovered in an area where they had previously been considered extinct for 60 years and rumored to be seen in the last decade. [I'm currently reading Rick Bass' THE LOST GRIZZLIES, A Search for Survivors in the Wilderness of Colorado and it seems it will be a while before that population is confirmed.] Last month, as reported in the Missoulian, a hunter (surprised?) killed "a large grizzly bear in a roadless area of north-central Idaho." Note the word roadless in that quote, and the fact that evidence often comes in the form of a dead body. This kind of news re-emphasizes the need for efforts such as Vital Ground and Yukon to Yellowstone to piece together connected roadless (read: lacking humans) areas where grizzly populations can safely thrive undisturbed. It would be nice if one day there was a San Juans to Yukon initiative, and the rumors of San Juan grizzly populations become true... I can hope, right?
In my opinion the only way to get grizzlies back in the San Juans and other previous home ranges is to "let in the jungle" just like Mowgli by removing hunters and roads. Some people may call this irrational or extreme, but I think we can give back a bit. I say rape and pillage Manhattan forever -- no bear will ever live there again -- but give back what could be used again by the original inhabitant when we don't necessarily need it. Colorado is working to reestablish a lynx population in the San Juans, and may attempt wolf reintroduction. I don't know if anyone would attempt to reintroduce Grizzlies, so I think their best shot is to let them wander in on their own.
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[1] Letting in the Jungle (click title to read) from The Second Jungle Book, first published 1895, by Rudyard Kipling. This story is highly worth the read, and definitely NOT in the Disney cartoon movie due to the violence against man handed down by the animals. It's probably my favorite in the entire Jungle Book collection though.
[2] Chris Servheen, quoted at http://www.focuswest.org/predators/intro_preds.cfm
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